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Updated: June 23, 2025
In order, however, that the difficulties of so important an undertaking may be justly appreciated, it may be proper to observe that the Island of Mindanao alone, at the present moment, contains a population equal, if not larger, than that of Luzon, and the margins of the immense lake, situated in its center, are covered with well-built towns, filled with conveniences, the fruits of their annual privateering, and of the traffic they carry on with the inhabitants of the Island of Jolo.
While Don Juan Ronquillo was with his camp in Mindanao, the men of Jolo, seeing Spanish affairs flourishing, were willing to enjoy peace and pay their tribute; but at the departure of the Spaniards, they became lukewarm again.
They have a few old rusty guns, which are only used to fight enemies of other countries; never using them to fight each other with. When General Bates made a treaty of peace with the Sultan of Jolo, the sultan was received by General Bates the first Sunday in May, 1900; we were drawn up in line and presented arms to his excellency.
The Audiencia advised him not to remove or raise the garrison of La Caldera, but to reenforce and maintain it, and to attend to the affairs of Jolo and the river of Mindanao as soon as possible, even if what was necessary for those two places should be withdrawn from some other section.
When he was sent to Joló, practically in banishment, the town was a plague spot to which were assigned Spaniards whose early demise would have been looked upon with favour by those in power. He converted it into a healthy place the death rate of which compared favourably with that of European cities, thereby demonstrating conclusively what could be done even under very unfavourable conditions.
"I therefore in the name of all the Filipinos very gladly offer to the powerful Sultan of Jolo and to all brothers who acknowledge his great authority, the highest assurance of friendship, consideration and esteem. "Malolos, January 18, 1899." From an official document on file at Manila.
They encountered a rough sea, lost their bearings, and finally the boat capsized, and they lost their clothing and one gun after a battle with the sea for three days. Instead of reaching Mindanao they drifted on the Island of Jolo, about twenty miles from the town of Jolo, almost starved to death. In preparing for their trip they had not thought as much about rations as about ammunition.
The sultan was to maintain peace on the island of Jolo, for which he was to receive 500 dollars Mexican coin every month. We presented arms to him, and were forced to treat him with great honors.
During considerable periods they did not really pretend to exercise control over the criminal Filipinos inhabiting the west coast of the island. Conditions as to public order were worse in Mindoro than anywhere else in the archipelago north of Mindanao and Joló. No less absurd are Blount's suggestions as to the general worthlessness of the island.
The schooner's sails were next hoisted, and she was brought into Jolo, where the cargo and crew were sold in sight of, and with the knowledge and consent of the sultan; an atrocity for which he has always refused to give any satisfaction to a nation, thus openly and barbarously outraged by his own relatives, and in defiance of the existing treaties of peace.
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